Campus News Fall 2018 Issue 11 - Pup Edition

Page 1

VOLUME 76, ISSUE 11 | ELACCAMPUSNEWS.COM | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018 SINGLE COPY FREE - ADDITIONAL COPIES 50 CENTS

Transforming Lives Campaign helps students Development Program can benefit homeless students. Staff Writer “Eighteen percent of the homeless population are students,” Homelessness has become an said Vela. Vela is working with college issue for students at East Los presidents from Orange Coast, Angeles College. Non-profit organizations such as Sierra, and Compton Colleges to the Transforming Lives Campaign provide housing for students in (TLC) and Jovenes Inc offer help need. In addition, Vela also emphasized to students in need to acquire the importance of how mayors, housing, food, and even clothes. The TLC committee held a panel CEOs and politicians have come discussion yesterday to provide an together in an initiative to provide update on the progress they have more housing. Cruz told the made with their audience that there partner Jovenes Inc. are many underlying Paul de La Cerda, issues to why a executive director of student is having “Investing in the East Los Angeles College Foundation, higher education trouble. “I sit down started the event by is a true way out with them, have a introducing speakers on the panel and of homelessness conversation about what is going on in briefly informed the for young their lives and why audience about the they are having adults.” problems homeless food insecurity and students face, usually there are a ranging from having lot of other issues ANDREA MARCHETTI insufficient food to Executive Director, or challenges that going place-to-place Jovenes, Inc. a student may be to have a place to facing,” said Cecilia sleep. Cruz, ELAC Student “1 in 5 students in the district were homeless, in fact Health Center coordinator. However, by asking for help she on the ELAC campus, 70.3 percent of our students have experienced is able to provide relief. Executive Director of Housing food insecurity,” said Cerda. Speakers on the panel offered Works Celina Alvarez stated it was their insight on how the TLC has important to find the root cause of poverty and homelessness to help helped students. Los Angeles Community College prevent it from becoming a bigger District Board of Trustees member issue. Andrea Marchetti, Director of David Vela gave information on how the Affordable Housing Jovenes Inc., spoke about their

BY MAURICIO BATISTA

CN/STEVEN CARDONA

TENDER LOVE AND CARE — Xavier Santibanez (Left), Andrea Marchetti, Celina Alvarez, Cecilia Cruz, David Vela, Marvin Martinez discuss the homeless population of students at East Los Angeles College during the panel discussion yesterday. partnership with TLC and how they aim to provide permanent housing solutions to help students. He followed up by saying education was very important and without committing to educational plans, life would be very difficult. “Investing in higher education is

a true way out of homelessness for young adults,” said Marchetti. ELAC President Marvin Martinez reminded students to apply for the Pell Grant. He is working on financial aid awareness to help notify students about the Free Application for

Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) resources and grants available. At the end of the presentation Xavier Santibanez, ELAC student, shared his personal experience as a homeless student. He also talked about how during this trying time of his life

professors were able to help on the dilemma he was facing. Cerda closed the event by thanking the panel members for their support and presented Marchetti a $10,000 check to Jovenes Inc on behalf of the ELAC Foundation.

Newly proposed rule threatens student civil rights BY MELISA VALENZUELA Staff Writer

CN/ JOSE PAULO DE PAZ

Internet outage slows down daily academics BY JOSE PAULO DE PAZ Staff Writer This past Tuesday, students and staff alike were surprised with no internet on campus. The outage not only affected East Los Angeles College (ELAC) but six other colleges within the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD). Many students and staff were upset as they were unable to get much done. There was no service at 8 a.m. and IT continuously updated staff on the status of the internet situation. Around 11 a.m. the internet was working again but issues were still present. Printers and wi-fi were down, making it difficult for students and staff to receive much help from the facilities on campus. Among those heavily affected were the Helen Miller Bailey Library, the Learning Center, the Reading and Writing Center and Transfer Center. The library staff

News Briefs

was only able to access an offline catalog. Other centers were also unable to provide assistance because a majority of their systems need internet to fully operate. “Students came in, but they couldn't do anything. We told them they were more than welcome to stay, but they just left,” said Learning Center Director Amanda Ryan-Romo. Students were upset as they rely heavily on the resources provided by the Learning Center. Ryan-Romo explained that the tutoring system relies extensively on the internet and, with it down, tutors couldn't help those who had appointments. The system allows for tutors and staff to see who is scheduled for appointments online. “Internet started coming back around one o’clock, but it was onand-off,” said Ryan-Romo. According to an email sent out by the IT Department, the outage was

due to a regional service failure by Internet Service Provider (ISP) CENIC and AT&T. “It was not an internal problem. Something out of our hands,” said IT Manager Gonzalo Mendoza, “They [AT&T] had a circuit problem. They had fixed it, but it kept fluctuating.” Mendoza said the internet was not back until 1 p.m. In the e-mail sent out by Mendoza, staff was told not to start any internet-based transactions around noon, as the internet was fluctuating and could result in incomplete processes. The e-mail also said the internet was not operational until 4 p.m. that afternoon, with confirmation from both AT&T and CENIC. Both AT&T and CENIC confirmed and monitored the internet until it was back to normal. The six colleges and universities that were affected were Elac, Pierce College, Long Beach City College, and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

The East Los Angeles College Academic Senate meeting was held yesterday to discuss two recent changes happening both on campus and at the state level. One important issue discussed was the need to address the culture and climate of sexual harassment on campus. As part of Title IX, the education secretary recently proposed a new rule that would significantly reduce the obligations of colleges to investigate complaints of sexual misconduct. Title IX of the Education Amendments is the federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on sex and also includes sexual harassment, rape and sexual assault. The Academic Senate agreed that the proposed rule puts student’s civil rights in jeopardy and must be stopped.

They have decided to start a campaign against its passage and plan to write multiple letters to the state senate. Another significant issue discussed was the importance of having legislative liaisons. Last year, assembly bill 705 was passed which requires colleges to take into consideration high school transcripts and records, and also requires students to finish transferable courses within a year. It does not accommodate parttime students who are employed, which is a majority of community college students. As a result of its passage, enrollment at Mount San Antonio College has dropped significantly. Jeffrey Hernandez, president of the Academic Senate, said state legislatures have become more involved with educational issues in recent years. He said this poses a problem because even though the state legislatures may have good

intentions, they are not on campus often to know what is really going on and therefore might not make the best decisions. The academic senate has agreed that representatives from the school, or legislative liaisons, are critical in strengthening communication between schools and local senates. These liaisons would attend local senate meetings and report about legislation and legislative issues, facilitate or act as a source for legislation and collaborate with local senate officers to create the most effective communication with faculty on campus. “It is important for us to take responsibility,” said Hernandez. “Our community college system in California is one of the best in the world and to keep it that way we need to build allies with the legislature.” The next meeting will be on Dec. 11 at 12:10 p.m. in G1301. Visitors are welcome and encouraged to attend.

CN/ STEVEN ADAMO

Fall Scholarship Recipients

Saint Joan

Pup Edition

The Fall 2018 Scholarship Recipients Thursday, in the F-5 Multi-Purpose room at 7 p.m. RSVP contact Irma Aguilar at (323) 265-8901 or by email at agilaic@elac.edu

Theatre Arts Department presents Saint Joan. Evening showtimes start at 8p.m on Friday; Dec. 1,6,7 and 8. Matinees will be on Dec. 1,2,7,8,9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are available in P2-101A.

This week’s issue of Campus News was written, produced, edited, and photographed by the Journalism 101 classes.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.